Pond ready for Argyle test

Centre back looks ahead to Tuesday's game and reflects on Mansfield defeat

Nathan Pond has admitted that Tuesday’s home game against Plymouth Argyle is a ‘massive game now’ after Fleetwood slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Mansfield Town on Saturday.

Stags striker, Matt Rhead, headed past Chris Maxwell to score the only goal of the game at the One Call Stadium just after the half hour mark as Town lost only their second league game since the turn of the year.

That defeat opened up a five-point gap between Fleetwood and the Sky Bet League 2 automatic promotion places and Pond was left to reflect on a ‘disappointing’ afternoon for the Cod Army.

Speaking to the club’s official website after the game, Pond said: “We got undone by a set piece and didn’t really take our chances and it was a disappointing afternoon for us in the end.

“In the first half, it took us a while to get going and they came at us for 15-20 minutes, but in the second half, we came into it a lot more and started to show our quality, we hit the post, but we just couldn’t get the ball in the net.”

Fleetwood manager, Graham Alexander, was forced into changing his back four for the first time since December 21 after illness meant Charlie Taylor started on the bench, whilst Conor McLaughlin missed out altogether.

Jamille Matt also missed the 1-0 defeat through injury and after Alexander also admitted after the game that he is hoping to welcome some players back on Tuesday, Pond insists Fleetwood cannot use having players out injured or ill as an excuse for the defeat.

“We’re all experienced players, so it isn’t an excuse for us,” Pond added.

“We are missing a few key players at the minute, but there is a lot of strength in this squad and hopefully we can get back to winning ways on Tuesday now.”

John Sheridan’s play-off chasing Plymouth Argyle visit Highbury on Tuesday evening – the start of two home games in a row for Fleetwood – and Pond believes Town ‘need three points’ as they look to get their promotion push back on track.

“Plymouth is a massive game now, we need three points with us being at home as well so hopefully we can get back on track as soon as possible.”